House leaders Tuesday reached a bipartisan deal to forward an overhaul of the nation's surveillance laws in its response to the inspector general report that showed errors and omissions made by the FBI while obtaining warrants for wiretaps on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The changes, if they become law, will install new privacy protections for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, reports The New York Times, but still will not enact more sweeping limits that had been favored by civil libertarians on both sides of the aisle.
However, even if the Democrat-controlled House votes to pass the bill, it could still have trouble moving quickly through the Senate, and President Donald Trump has not been predictable on surveillance policy matters, reports The Times.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., unveiled the "USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020" on Tuesday, following several days of negotiations and set a vote for Wednesday.
The revised bill was co-sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif. It is reportedly similar to legislation the Judiciary Committee was to mark up two weeks ago, but now includes enhanced penalties for abuses of surveillance powers.
Nadler and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sat next to each other in the Rules Committee to push for the bill.
“This bill does not go far enough, but it does represent real reform,” Jordan said. “These reforms have long been necessary but have been especially warranted in recent years given the FBI’s spying on the Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page and the affront to First Amendment rights that this represented.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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